


It's You

by JehBeeEh



Series: One-Shots from Across the Multiverse [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: A nod to all my fave fanfics, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Coffee Addict Tony Stark, Fluffy, M/M, Marvel Happily Ever After Harlequin Hoopla 2020, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:07:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22978129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JehBeeEh/pseuds/JehBeeEh
Summary: Everyone has a soulmate. Everyone except Tony, that is.Ever since he was little, he had seen a person in his dreams. Always the same one. Sometimes they were young, sometimes they were older, but without a doubt he knew it was always the same man. He would recognize those blue eyes anywhere by now, no matter if they were on a one year old, or 100.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: One-Shots from Across the Multiverse [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1656748
Comments: 14
Kudos: 274
Collections: MHEA Harlequin Hoopla Prompt Challenge 2020





	It's You

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the MHEA Romance Prompt for the 19th - Soulmates (I'd like to think there is a bit of the Coffee Shop meet-cute prompt in there, but it didn't quite play out like I wanted)

Everyone has a soulmate. Everyone except Tony, that is.

Ever since he was little, he had seen a person in his dreams. Always the same one. Sometimes they were young, sometimes they were older, but without a doubt he knew it was always the same man. He would recognize those blue eyes anywhere by now, no matter if they were on a one year old, or 100. In his dreams he was always with this mystery man, and they were always happy. No matter what had happened, one look into those deep ocean eyes and everything made sense, everything was right in the universe. And that was the other thing: it felt like they were all set in different times. Or maybe it was just his imagination running rampant? He remembered them in a setting that looked like the wild west and one where they lived in a little cabin in the woods. One where he called him his king, one where he called him his alpha, and many where he called him his husband. They had been professors, an artist and an engineer, an assistant and a CEO, a firefighter and a doctor, even the President and a lobbyist. They had been rich, they had been poor, and everything in between. They’d sometimes been parents, other times had pets, and were always surrounded by the love of their friends who were more like family in all the scenarios. He had had to say goodbye when the blue-eyed stranger left for a war he didn’t recognize, welcomed him home from another one he knew even less. He had tutored him in college, cheered him on when he was the captain of the football team in high school, and fought with him over mega blocks as toddlers. In one of his favourite dreams, they were even superheroes, fighting alongside each other as some kind of patriotic super soldier whose ass looked amazing in blue spandex and a robot-like hero in the most amazing red and gold metallic armour Tony had ever laid eyes on. In a slightly weirder dream, he was an astronaut and he was fairly sure the alien he encountered was the blue-eyed man he had slowly but surely fallen in love with. But regardless of where they were, or what they were doing, or how strained their relationship seemed to start off as, one thing remained constant: behind those impossibly blue eyes was love, and it was all directed at him.

None of his friends or family had ever heard of dreaming of your soulmate, so after a while, Tony had dismissed it as just a figment of his imagination. His overactive brain wanting to believe that there really was someone out there for him, contrary to what his father had told him repeatedly. His mother had tried to shush the older man, saying everyone had a soulmate and she had no doubt Tony would find his. That they'd be loving and caring, and always there for him. Tony couldn't help but notice the small bite in his mother's words whenever she went on about this, almost like she was decrying her own situation – it was no secret that Howard Stark was not exactly mister warm and fuzzy after all. But, they had been soulmates, so clearly the universe knew something Tony didn’t understand?

On his eighteenth birthday, he woke up with words on his wrist, like everyone did, those first words his soulmate would tell him. The words didn’t quite make sense, why would their first words to him be _Tall Blond_? He was a short brunette; quite the opposite. If anything, it reminded him of the blue eyes he had seen, which were almost always on the most beautiful tall, buff, and blond man. Based on what everyone had told him, he would be finding out soon enough; everyone he knew had met their soulmate within a year or two of their birthday.

But the years had passed, and Tony still hadn't met the man of his literal dreams, nor his soulmate. He had moved back to California after he graduated from MIT, thinking maybe that was part of the problem? He had been away from home when he turned 18 after all, since he went to college earlier than was the norm. But that hadn’t helped. He had taken over the family business at 25 when his parents passed away in a car crash, which brought him to travel the world, which he both loved and cursed. What if that had made him miss his chance to meet his soulmate? His friends had been with their soulmates for years now, and here he was, still soulmate-less. But, everyone thought he had it all! He was the head of research and development for one of the most successful companies in the world, making amazing leaps in green technology in a time where the world couldn't afford not to. He had developed nanotechnology that could clean up oceans, and a new source of clean energy that was set to change the course of humankind for good. He was on top of the world, really. But the top sure felt lonely without anyone by his side. Sure, he dated and had a steady streams of lovers come in and out of his life, but they all found their person eventually.

So, he decided to move to New York just before his 30th birthday. California clearly wasn’t where his soulmate was. Plus, he wanted to ensure his new building was properly functioning anyways, so might as well make the move. He still hoped, he did, that someone, anyone, would show up. Be that person he had yearned for. But he wasn’t getting any younger, and with every passing birthday, that hope faded a little more.

When he found himself in Brooklyn, of all places, on his actual birthday, the last thing on his mind was his soulmate. All he wanted was caffeine to wake him up after a particularly brutal meeting he was forced to endure. He found a café nearby and entered, grateful that there was no one else in line.

“Hi there-" he started, looking at the cashier's name tag, “Natasha. Can I get a small of whatever blend you have that is the most highly caffeinated, please and thank you.”

The redhead smiled sweetly at him, likely having recognized him, grabbed a cup and handed it to a barista he didn’t pay attention to as he paid. He picked up his phone and got distracted answering an email while he waited at the counter for his drink. He noticed the cup being placed in front of him and lifted his head to thank the barista just as they spoke.

“Tall blond-"

“It's you,” Tony started at the same time as he heard the blue eyed man say the words he had wondered about all too often.

They stood in silence for what felt like an hour but was likely just seconds, staring at each other, wonder and joy, and possibly mild terror, crossing the brunette's face. Neither of them knew what to say next, how to proceed, but it was clear they both knew exactly what had happened.

“Earth to Steve? Hello? I asked for a Caramel macchiato,” the cashier called out, breaking the men from their staring match.

The blond – Steve by the sounds of it – looked away from him, and Tony's stomach dropped at the loss of those beautiful blue eyes no longer on him. He watched as Steve's gaze landed on the woman, and he began to babble. “Nat, this is… it's me. It's him!” He pointed to his arm, as if it explained everything, and the redhead's confused look softened, understanding exactly what he meant.

“I got this, go,” she replied with a wink.

Those perfect blue eyes were back on Tony, and he breathed again, as if he had been holding his breath during their exchange. He smiled shyly at the blond, who did the same. Tony didn’t look away as he took off his apron and walked around the counter to stand in front of him. The blond grabbed the coffee he had just served him in one hand, and slowly, tentatively, reached for one of his hands with his other, Tony closing the distance without hesitation. Steve's impossibly blue eyes left him just long enough to gently pull him towards a table in the corner of the small shop, as close to isolated as they could be, settling back on his as soon as they were seated. Their previously joined hands were on the table, fingers lightly intertwined.

“It's you,” Tony finally said, the words leaving his mouth again, dripping in awe, almost sounding like the words at the end of an answered prayer.

“I could say the same thing,” Steve answered, a soft blush creeping up over his cheeks.

“I was starting to think I’d never meet you in real life.” The words left Tony's mouth before he realized he had said them.

“And I was starting to think my celebrity crush was bordering on obsession.” Steve admitted. Tony quirked an eyebrow at the comment, making the blond chuckle. “This will sound weird… I’ve been dreaming about you, for as long as I can remember. And then, you started showing up on the news, and I thought it was just a weird coincidence. When I asked, before you were as well-known as you are, no one had ever heard-"

“Of dreaming about their soulmate?” Tony finished for him. Steve nodded. “Same thing happened to me.” He paused. “I wonder… think we had the same dreams?”

“I’m not sure. You tell me… Shellhead.” Steve asked, making Tony burst out laughing as he remembered the nickname he had heard him use before. “I’ll take that as a yes?” Steve laughed along with him as he nodded.

They sat in silence, back to staring at each other, unsure where to go from here.

“I can't believe you’re really real…” Tony whispered, more to himself than the other man, but he couldn’t say he minded the shade of pink that flushed Steve's cheeks again. “I'm not gonna lie, I had kinda given up on the idea you existed. Every time I moved or visited somewhere new, I hoped you'd be there. Everyone around me found their person so quickly…”

“I know,” Steve added softly, his hand gripping Tony's more firmly. “I thought for sure when I went to Boston for schoo-"

“I went to MIT!”

“I know, I started the year you graduated, smarty pants,” Steve smiled at him. “I did the architecture program.”

“Why are you working in a coffee shop?”

“I’m just helping Nat out, she was super short staffed today, and I had nothing else to do.” He shrugged, like this was no big deal, and yet, it kinda was. And they both knew it. “I was in California for a few months while you were doing your overseas tour. I actually helped on the remodel for your San Francisco office, and I just finished some of the layouts for the Tower you just opened here. It seemed so surreal that I always managed to work on your projects, was always one step behind where you had been, and then you were in my dreams all the time… I really felt like a stalker at one point.”

“Yeah, that does sound pretty stan-like,” and it was Tony's turn to smile at the blond. “Listen, I have a dinner reservation for tonight. I’m not sure what time you're done here, but I’d love it if you joined me?”

“You were going to go to dinner alone?” Steve questioned.

“Yeah… um, my friends are all still back in California and I didn’t really feel like staying home in a half-finished penthouse for my birthday, so I figured I’d go out.”

“Huh. So… you’re moving to New York then? In the penthouse that I just designed, in Stark Tower?” Steve asked slowly, as if considering how, yet again, they were connected.

“This is sounding creepier and creepier as we go, but yes. I decided a couple months ago to move here.”

“I’m happy our timing is finally syncing up,” Steve said just as Natasha called for him. He looked up and saw a long line-up at the cash. He swore under his breath as he nodded at her. “I’m done in about an hour, when Nat's husband is supposed to get here from some errands. I’d love to go out with you for your birthday, Tony.” He reached in his pocket and took out a pen. He reached for Tony's hand, noticing the words on his wrist. He rubbed his thumb over them, as a small smile danced on his lips, and he quickly wrote his phone number under them, as Natasha called for him again. “Text me the details. I’ll see you later, Tony.”

The brunette barely had time to say goodbye and Steve was back behind the espresso machine. He sat in silence, looking down at his wrist for a long time before he finally grabbed his coffee cup and left the café, amazed at the turn of events the day had taken as he made a call to the restaurant to add to his reservation before calling his best friend to tell him what had just happened.

Everyone had a soulmate. And now, after many long years of waiting, Tony finally had his.

**Author's Note:**

> It didn't quite turn out like I wanted, but it's cute and fluffy and fun, so it shall do.
> 
> I realized after I wrote this that Blond Roast coffee is not a common thing outside Canada?! So yeah, Tall Blond is my usual coffee order at Starbucks, and it always makes me giggle to order it. Blond roast has more caffeine than darker roasts. It doesn't taste as strong, but I need less of it, so it's a win-win in my books.
> 
> The 'dreams' mentioned are all based on fanfics I have read and loved. Some might be a bit more obvious than others, but all around, it is my way of saying thank you to the amazing writers who have shared fics I never thought I'd get to read and fall in love with. Thank you, each and every one of you, and to all of the readers as well, who inspire me to keep writing these even though I am my own worse critic ;) So yeah, this is a 'thank you' fic in a way.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it!! <3


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